


I Was Too Late

by NalgeneWhore



Series: Elorcan One Shots [44]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22759765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NalgeneWhore/pseuds/NalgeneWhore
Summary: im also on tumblr @nalgenewhore! (i post there more regularly)
Relationships: Elide Lochan/Lorcan Salvaterre
Series: Elorcan One Shots [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636468
Kudos: 25





	I Was Too Late

_For the first time in his long and miserable life, Lorcan Salvaterre felt fear as he sprinted through that little town, dark and cold and wrong._

_The streets were too quiet as he raced to where the thread in his gut was pulling him to, to where his mate was._

_He had known it, had scented it on her all those nights spent in a tent far too small for him. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her, to tell the creature that had never known true freedom before information that would be another set of shackles._

_A sharp cry pierced the cold night and the sound spurred him faster and faster still until he rounded a corner and saw Elide be thrown into a box, a coffin._

If she is locked in that, she will die and never see the sun again _, a cool voice said in his head and he nearly felt it when she twisted at the last second and cracked her nose, bright red blood spraying from it. That ancient, savage, calm settled over him, he would make these beasts pay._

_Lorcan watched her lunge to her uncle and before he could shout or warn her, claws gripped him and lifted him off the ground, the gaping maw of an ilken inches from his face. He thrashed, snarling and was dropped, skirting around the creature for his eyes to fall onto Elide, a bloody knife handle sticking from her ribs. “NO! ELIDE!”_

_His roar cleaved the courtyard and he raced towards her as she began to fall, dark liquid bubbling from her lips._

_He caught her and sank to the wet stones, blood and rain alike making them slick but he blocked it out._

_“Lorcan, y-you came, you,” she coughed, crimson spilling onto his jacket and he had never hated the sight or scent of it more._

_“Don’t talk, El. You’re going to be fine, we’ll find a healer, someone can help you and you’ll be ok, yeah?” She slowly shook her head and tears sprung in his eyes. “El, don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.”_

_Elide grinned, her lips shining crimson. “You told me you don’t need anything or anybody.”_

_“I need you, forever.”_

_Her eyes fluttered shut and he breathed sharply, the tears dripping down his face. They slowly opened again and her breathing became more laboured. “I’m right here.”_

_Lorcan nodded, not acknowledging when he heard the leathery sound of wings flapping away, knowing that her killers were getting away and it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. “El, we’re mates, you’re my mate, don’t go. I don’t want you to go, please.”_

_There was no shock on her face at his admission, nothing except for a quiet sort of joy. “I wish we had more time. I wanted it to be you.”_

_Her heartbeat grew weaker and weaker as his sobs came faster and harder until the last breath left her lips and he tilted his head back, bellowing his sorrow to the gods above as his mate lay dead in his arms._

Lorcan flew awake, heart stopping in his chest as he reached across the bed and felt nothing but cool, untouched sheets.

He lunged out of bed, nearly ripping the door clean off the hinges when he opened it and staggered through their chambers, searching for the mate he was sure he had lost, again. He only breathed again when he saw Elide curled on the couch, her fingers resting on the page of her open book as she looked up at him, chest heaving and his face streaked with tears.

She put her book down and opened her arms, beckoning him to her.

He crossed the carpet, settling above her with his head nestled under her heart, her fingers tangling into his hair.

Lorcan shook as she ran her hands through his hair, her nails scratching his scalp gently. He tilted his chin up, her heart stuttering at the pain and unspilled tears in his inky eyes. “Come to bed, I ca, I can’t , I can’t sleep without you. Please,” his voice broke on the last word and she nearly cried at the shattered tone of his voice.

Elide nodded and kissed him softly, humming her answer before he lifted himself off her and she took his hand, pressing her lips to the back of it as they walked back to their room.

Lorcan stayed at the door as she climbed into bed, watching her with fractured eyes. When she patted the mattress next to her, he crawled in beside her, settling on his stomach as she stayed on her back, his arm over her waist, his face buried in her neck.

Elide asked him nothing, he would share if he wanted to and pushing him when he was this far gone would do no good.

“You died. I watched you die and I couldn’t save you.” Her heart wrenched in her chest at his tone, the sorrow and pain bleeding through. “I lost you.”

She looked down at him, cupping his face so she could catch the tears that fell with her thumb, “I’m right here. And I am alive, my love.”

Elide took his hand and pressed it over her heart, so he could feel the beat of her heart beneath his fingertips. “Do you believe me?”

Lorcan nodded, words failing him in moments like these, when it became real that they had survived and they were together. “I love you, forever and always.”

A gentle smile played on her lips, “And I love you, always and forever.”

When he fell asleep again, curled around his mate, the nightmares didn’t come this time.

**Author's Note:**

> im also on tumblr @nalgenewhore! (i post there more regularly)


End file.
